Lockpick

Lockpick
Rarity	Common
Type	Key
Value	750
Stackable	Yes
Campaign	—
Uses	Reusable until broken

A lockpick is a type of key with a few unique properties :

• Lockpicks can unlock any generic locked chest
  • They are the only keys that can open Locked Chests found in Eye of the North and in hard mode.
• Lockpicks are not always consumed upon use but have a chance of being retained.
  • Retention is considered as a game of chance for the purpose of the Lucky and Unlucky titles. Successfully retaining will count as winning 250 tickets, breaking will count as losing 2.5 games of chance for every 1% of the retention rate of the chest.

These properties make lockpicks strictly superior to keys in functionality, however they are usually more expensive and more difficult to acquire.

Acquisition

Core

• Random drop in hard mode
• Chest of Woe and Underworld Chest (hard mode only; always drops)
• Merchant (cost: 1 500) except in pre-Searing Ascalon
• Pokhe (cost: 2 and 50)
• Zaishen Chest

Factions

• Faction merchant (cost: 1 200)

Eye of the North

• Chest of Burrows
• Hidden Treasures
• Random drop in normal mode
• As a quest reward from Mano a Norn-o, Plan A, Shadows in the Night, and Single Ugly Grawl Seeks Same for Mindless Destruction in Ascalon.

Beyond

• Royal Gift drop (1-5 lockpicks)
• As a quest reward from Warning the Angchu, Free Birds, Honorable Combat, A Treaty's a Treaty, and their corresponding hard mode version quest.
• Imperial Guard Lockbox drop (10 lockpicks)

Retention Rate

Each chest has a base retention rate that depends on the price of the equivalent key associated with this type of chest. In addition, a bonus inherent rate is applied, that depends on the character's level and the account's rank in the Treasure Hunter and Lucky title tracks. This bonus rate is equal to :

Bonus Rate = ( 0.5 * Level + 3 * Treasure Hunter rank + 2 * Lucky rank ) / 100

The bonuses for all potential combinations of account-wide title ranks for a level 20 character are given in the right table below:

Chest-specific retention rate Key Cost Chest Rate 50 55% 80 54% 200 50% 300 45% 450 35% 600 (EotN NM) 30% 750 25% 1 250 10% 1 500 (hard mode) 0%	Inherent lockpick retention rate at level 20 Treasure Hunter Lucky 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 10% 13% 16% 19% 22% 25% 28% 31% 1 12% 15% 18% 21% 24% 27% 30% 33% 2 14% 17% 20% 23% 26% 29% 32% 35% 3 16% 19% 22% 25% 28% 31% 34% 37% 4 18% 21% 24% 27% 30% 33% 36% 39% 5 20% 23% 26% 29% 32% 35% 38% 41% 6 22% 25% 28% 31% 34% 37% 40% 43%
NM EotN chests in normal mode do not have a key, but offer a 30% bonus, which would be the equivalent of a 600g key.

For instance, without any bonuses from titles, the retention rate for Jade Sea chests at level 20 is 40% (30% from the chest itself, as the equivalent key costs 600 gold, plus 10% from the character being at level 20). With a rank 2 in the treasure hunter title (+6%) and Lucky title (+4%), the retention rate becomes 50%.

One lockpick is expected to open an average of 1/(1-RR) chests, with RR the total retention rate. If opening locked chest in hard mode for example, with rank 2 in both Lucky and Treasure Hunter (RR=20%), one lockpick is expected to open 1,25 chests, so four lockpicks are expected to open five locked chests ( = 4*1/(1-0.2) = 4*1/0.8 = 4*1.25 ).

Lockpicks vs keys

For characters without any ranks in Lucky or Treasure Hunter, it is almost always more cost-effective to use keys instead of lockpicks to open chests.

The higher the title track ranks, however, the higher the lockpick retention rate and therefore the higher the number of chests it can open, to the point where it can become more cost-effective to use a lockpick instead of a regular key. The first table below shows the breakpoint for lockpicks bought from a merchant at 1 500 while the second table uses the common player trade price of 1 250. If the player's bonus rate is equal to the given value, using keys or lockpicks will cost you as much. If it is higher, using lockpicks will be cheaper.

Based on 1 500 lockpicks (Merchant price.) Key cost Base Rate 50 42% 80 41% 200 37% 300 35% 450 35% 600 30% 750 25% 1 250 7%

Based on 1 250 lockpicks. (Typical price for buying them from players in-game.) Key cost Base Rate 50 41% 80 40% 200 34% 300 31% 450 29% 600 22% 750 15% 1 250 0%

Notes

• Since Faction merchants are only available in alliance-controlled outposts, it is not uncommon for some players to resell the discounted lockpicks to other players for a small margin.